<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>four places Aloy went before she arrived in the Jewel (and the one and only occasion she arrives in the Jewel for the first time) by OldEmeraldEye</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30042390">four places Aloy went before she arrived in the Jewel (and the one and only occasion she arrives in the Jewel for the first time)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldEmeraldEye/pseuds/OldEmeraldEye'>OldEmeraldEye</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dice Fic Challenge [16]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, During Canon, Scouting &amp; Orienteering, Side Quests, The Sundom (Horizon: Zero Dawn), Travel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:41:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>424</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30042390</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldEmeraldEye/pseuds/OldEmeraldEye</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A travel log.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dice Fic Challenge [16]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1871956</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>four places Aloy went before she arrived in the Jewel (and the one and only occasion she arrives in the Jewel for the first time)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It takes a long time for Aloy to reach the Jewel, even after she clears out corruption and leaves the Sacred Lands. Meridian is a straight shot through the scrubland from Daytower, and she hasn't got time to waste. When she does leave - almost as quickly as she arrived, the hunt drives her like the press of a charging Trampler - it is for Pitchcliff and Red Echoes, which are located to the north if the Sundom's capitol. For her first months beyond the borders of the Sacred lands, she spends her days trekking back and forth and occasionally around that same path, taking care of machines and bandits, chasing down</p>
<p>She returns to Meridian, drinks with Erend (to her morning regret) and joins the hunters lodge - against the will of most of its leadership, but that has never had much of a dissuasive effect on her, really - while waiting for new direction to strike out in. Her steps turn north once again. Investigates strange machine behavior, and earns her place as Talanah's Thrush.</p>
<p>Aloy then picks up a cauldron signal - she's getting the hang of differentiating them from Tallnecks - and collects a new set of overrides. Only has to fight a Thunderjaw. Only. In a confined room. Patching her varied wounds in the aftermath of that particular adventure uses up all of her bandages, ointments and herbs. She sets up camp that evening longing for the days when Sawtooth was biggest machine she'd ever seen. Life had been a lot simpler, and the world a lot smaller, in the Embrace.</p>
<p>More slowly now, she follows the road west, the sun in her face shifting days early, towards Daytower as much as Merridian, on lookout for a possibly former husband (and finds him in the midst of a trampler herd. Is hardly surprised, by now.) Then she comes across a settlement made of metal and stone. Nothing like Meridian or any Nora village she's see. And nothing like ruins of metal world. Oseram to the bones of it. Aloy finds she likes it and Petra both.</p>
<p>Finally, at long last, her focus split between tracking pilgrim for Mournful Namman and snapmaws for Talanah, Aloy makes her way south, beneath the thick green cover of the jungle. And discovers that the Sundom can do worse than supply sand for every crevice and gap in her clothing. She barely needs to sweat - air is already more than damp, sticking layers of cloth to skin.</p>
<p>If she has her way, it'll be a long time before she returns.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>